13th Sunday after Trinity
Grace, mercy and peace are yours from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Our text for our meditation together is the Epistle reading
of the day, We are going to go through it a verse at a time.
Galatians 3:15 To
give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it
or adds to it once it has been ratified.
In Galatians, Paul is writing some concerns he has with those
in the churches in the province of Galatian. Some among the church members
talked and acted like their religious was still based on Jewish laws and rituals,
given to Moses on Mt. Sinai. Paul is correcting them. No, he says, it is not
the law of Moses that makes you a Christian. It’s the promise, the covenant God
made with us, starting with Abraham, the father of all who believe.
God promised Abraham, making a covenant, with him. Abraham
would have a son, an heir, in fact Abraham would have many descendants, beyond
counting, like the stars of the sky. Abraham would be the father of nations:
Jews and Arabs and Palestinians and other tribes and nations, trace their
ancestry back to Abraham.
In this covenant with Abraham, God promised to bless Abraham
and all his children. It was a covenant of grace, that we too, by faith have
inherited from our father in the faith, Abraham.
But the Galatian problem was this, they were trying to add to
the covenant, saying things like it only applies to those who follow the law,
the Old Testament rituals and restrictions. That was the Galatian problem. It’s
a human problem, this hesitation to receive grace from God and put your trust
in that grace completely. Human beings are tempted to trust the law instead of
the promise. We, ask, what must I do to be saved.
Paul says, “you can’t think like that. If you add your works
to it, it’s like amending a legal contract that has already been agreed to,
signed and ratified. If you add to it, or change it, it’s not fair to the other
party because it’s not what was agreed to. So you can’t alter or amend the
covenant of grace with God by adding laws and your own works to it. We must be
careful in our faith, to not make it about our works and our credit, because
that would take the glory away from Christ.
16Now the promises
were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to
offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,”
who is Christ.
Paul points out a consistency in the words of Scripture.
From the promise to Abraham, all the way back in the very early history of the
world, the words of Scripture are about Jesus Christ, the one who would save us.
The author of the Bible, God the Holy Spirit, is consistent. The promise is
this – God sends His Son, our only Savior Jesus Christ.
17This is what I
mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant
previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void.
Paul is talking Bible history here, so you can kinda get the
bigger picture of what God was doing in those years. He gave the covenant
promise to Abraham, and it wasn’t until 430 years later that God gave the 10 commandments
and other rules to Moses. The promise to Abraham was coming true. God was
blessing Abraham’s descendants, now numbering in the millions. And he gave them
the laws for how they would live and be his people.
18For if the inheritance
comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by
a promise.
Now Paul uses a more specific word for the kind of covenant God
has with His people. It’s an inheritance. An inheritance comes by the grace of
a promise, not the demands of the law. You ought not demand to be included in the
inheritance, but you will get an inheritance if someone chooses to be gracious
to you when they die.
In Jesus’ story of the prodigal son, the arrogant son says
to his dad, “give me my share of the inheritance now.” This was the first of
his wrong ideas.
Inheritance works by grace. Someone wants you to have a gift.
So is the promise we have from God. Christ says, “this is my last will and
testament at my death, my body is given for you; my blood shed for you, for
your forgiveness, eternal life and salvation.
19Why then the law?
It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom
the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an
intermediary. 20Now an intermediary implies more
than one, but God is one.
Why then the law? Because of transgressions. It had to be
spelled out. Lest anyone say, “I didn’t know it was wrong to murder”, God had
to make it clear, “You shall not murder.”
Because someone would say, “I didn’t know I was supposed to
help out this poor bloke who was beat up on the side of the road to Jericho.”
God has to spell out the law. “Do good to your neighbor.” “Be kind and
compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God
forgave you.”
When we fail to love God, when we fail to love our neighbor,
God needs to give us His law to point out our transgressions and then seek for
grace and forgiveness through the intermediary in this covenant, the promised
offspring of Abraham, Jesus Christ.
21Is the law then contrary to the
promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give
life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. 22But
the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in
Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
Here’s what the law is for. Not for you to follow and earn
points with God or with your religion. Righteousness can’t be earned by the
law. The law imprisons everything under sin. So that we see that the only hope,
the only salvation is in Jesus Christ.
Because we are sinners the law nags and accuses us
constantly. You did that horrible thing. You thought those evil thoughts. You
didn’t help and befriend that poor guy and now it’s too late. It’s like the law
beats you up, steals what little you have and leaves you for dead along the
side of the road.
Your help and your hope is the promise by faith in Jesus
Christ. He promises you this, forgiveness and a clean conscience, eternal life
and the resurrection of the body, peace of mind, joy in suffering, love never
ending.
Cling to his promise. Believe his promise.
Amen.
